We visited Sri Lanka for 8 days in August and had an amazing time. Our driver from Colombus Tours, Priyal was amazing! He greeted us at the airport and drove us around from the start of our holiday to the end. He had a great sense of humour and was always happy, laughing and joking. He had so much knowledge of everywhere and took us to some amazing places for lunch we’d never have known about or found.
During our visit to sri lanka we stayed in 6 hotels, travelling from colombo to sigiriya, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Hikkaduwa and somewhere in between. We visited Sigiriya Rock and climbed all the way to the top, went on a safari in Minneriya and saw so many elephants which was amazing!! I didn’t expect to see so many and watched them for hours!
We visited Polonnarwua ancient city and saw a lot of Buddhists listening to a preacher which we walked through to get to the biggest temple.
Our guide took us to a local village where we rode on a cart pulled by ox, rode on a catamaran which I got to row for a bit before I got tired, and made food in their little kitchen and drank coconut water, climbed the farmers tree house where he keeps watch for elephants in the night! They were lovely people and I really enjoyed learning about their simple way of life (again we had to tip them for almost everything).
We visited Dambulla cave temples and then watched a traditional dance group in the evening in Kandy where the men are fire and walked through fire! They invited us for photos with them at the end but again wanted tipping for the privilege! Nothing is for free in Sri Lanka!
We visited temple of the Tooth in the morning super early so we could see the casket with the tooth but felt quite out of place bieng the only westerners in a see of Buddhists! It’s a beautiful building though and has lots of history. We went to a gem museum, word carving shop, a sari shop (I tried on a sari). The only downside to all the shops and places like this is that the owners follow you around and try and pressure you to buy things you can’t just look around without people pushing you to buy. We also had a stroll round the Botanical gardens (more for my mum and sisters benefit as they like plants, I just took lots of pictures of me doing silly things).
We then went to Horton Plains and walked 9km through beautiful mountains! It was cold and rainy up here but the views were incredible. After a lengthy drive we visited the Elephant Transit home in Uda Walawe which is home to baby elephants who have been rescued as they’ve lost their mother’s. We watched them at feeding time when they come out for milk and they bought the tiniest one out first so he could get some milk and it was the cutest thing ever! Then about 60 more followed! It was very cute to watch but was a little sad as you know they should be with family but they don’t have any. They do get released into the wild when they’re grown and able to look after themselves.
The following day we got up super early again to visit Yala National Park where we were lucky enough to see a Bear, crocodiles, elephants, wild boar, deer, buffalo, monkeys and we caught the tail end of the elusive leopard but not enough to get a picture.
We visited a turtle hatchery which looked like the worst aquarium ever at first glance but when you read what they do it makes you feel better and all the turtles have been rescued by fisherman and are missing a limb or something so they have to learn to dive again before they’re released back into the wild.
We attempted a whale watching tour but I spent the whole way being sick as the weather was hurrendous and the sea so choppy! We didn’t see any whales!
All in all we have had an amazing time in Sri Lanka and squeezed as much as we could into a short space of time and visited some amazing places. Our driver Priyal made the trip more than we could have imagined and I thank him so much for everything! I’ve attached some of the thousands of photos I’ve taken over the trip to show some highlights but there were so many to choose from! I would definitely recommend visiting Sri Lanka with Colombus Tours, they were amazing from start to finish (although I write this while still in Sri Lanka after a delayed flight of nearly 24 hours…) so we technically haven’t finished yet!!
Advice to anyone wanting to go; be prepared for a lot of driving if you want to see everything, the amount of dogs on the side of the road is very sad for an animal lover as most are scabby and injured and I just wanted to take them all home, bring plenty of extra money for tipping everyone, from the bell boys at the hotel, the cleaners, the jeep drivers, the village people and even the old man near the train which we just wanted to take a picture of a moving train and he wanted money because he lived nearby! It’s a beautiful country and the food was absolutely incredible! Be prepared to eat curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner (not that I’m complaining as its so good). We loved our trip! Thank you x